Question

Describe any two models that can be used to diagnose organization environment.

Answer 1

An effective diagnostic model allows identifying reliable data to help clients better understand their company’s strengths, deficiencies, and opportunities for improvement, to later articulate a targeted intervention and measurement strategy. To effectively improve organizational performance, as well as individual and group development, Organizational Development (OD) practitioners must be knowledgeable of quantitative and qualitative methods, as well as, the different diagnosis models to choose the most appropriate, given the intervention’s objectives, resources, and organizational culture and context. It is the process based on behaviour science theory that helps to understand the organization's culture, development and environment.

The following models have been introduced for organizational diagnosis:

• Force Field Analysis (1951)
• Leavitt’s model (1965)
• Likert system analysis (1967)
• Weisbord’s six-box model (1976)
• Congruencemodel for organization analysis (1977)
• Mckinsey 7s framework (1981-1982)
• Tichy’s technical political cultural (TPC) framework (1983)
• High-performance programming (1984)
• Diagnosing individual and group behavior (1987)
• Burke–Litwin model of organizational performance and change (1992)

All models are based on open system (Open System Theory, OST).

Leavitt's Model

Leavitt’s Diamond or the Leavitt Business Diamond is a model that can be applied to and used for change management. It gives insight into a company’s critical success factors and was developed in the 1965 by the American professor and organisational psychologist Harold Leavitt. According to the Leavitt Diamond Model, the success factors required to accomplish change are Structure, Tasks, People, and Technology. In the model, these four factors are placed in a square shape and interconnected, thus creating a diamond shape. This is what the model owes its name to. There are other comparable business models shaped like a diamond, the best known of which are those by Michael Porter and Edward Lawler III.

The Leavitt’s Diamond model consists of four components, which Leavitt calls the most important factors in an organisation’s success The four components are mentioned below. Moreover, it is indicated what a particular change in each of them causes in the other three:

Structure

Structure is not only about an organisation’s hierarchical buildup and the layout of the various departments. It also involves the mutual relations between departments and employees, the coordination between various levels of management, and communication patterns. These also result in the responsibilities within the organisation. A structure may be changed and adjusted for many reasons. Think of a reorganisation, a partnership, acquisition, or merger; restructuring of product groups, or reduction of management layers. A change in structure always comes with changes in another component or other components of the diamond.

Change in the People component

As soon as the structure changes because of one of the above examples, something will change in the employees as well. Their motivation, participation, and productivity may increase or decrease. On the other hand, a change in employees may in turn influence the structure of the organisation. When deploying highly qualified staff or training the skills of existing staff, less supervision and guidance is needed and managers’ span of control will increase.

Change in the Tasks component

A new organisational structure means different departments and, naturally, different tasks for the staff as well. The working methods and procedures change along with the end goal. Moreover, as soon as new company processes are developed, a number of positions or even levels of management may disappear completely.

Change in the Technology component

As soon as something changes in the area of technology, such as automation, this requires a renovation of organisational structure as well. For example, new positions will be created, and certain work may perhaps be taken over by technology. This will result in a reduced number of positions, along with which the organisational structure will have to change as well. It may also be the case that the coordination between departments will have to be adjusted.

Tasks

This component has two parts: on the one hand, those tasks that individual employees are assigned within their jobs; on the other hand, the goals on strategic, tactical, and operational level. In short, it involves all the things that need to be done in order to achieve a certain goal at the organisational, departmental, or individual level. Leavitt states that tasks should definitely make qualitative contributions to the organisational goal in the form of productivity and return on investment.

Change in the People component

As soon as there is a change of staff, or employees’ knowledge and expertise changes through training or a specific hiring policy, the individual tasks within their jobs will change as well.

Change in the Structure component

When the organisational structure changes, departments will also be restructured, resulting in a different arrangement of job positions. A different way of working will be expected from employees, which includes different and/or additional tasks. In case of reorganisation, too, the company goal will change, with consequences for each employee’s individual tasks.

Change in the Technology component

A change in technology will often have a great impact within an organisation. It entails that employees will have to work differently, and will receive different tasks. Certain work will be taken over by technology, which changes the content of the tasks for the staff. For example, manual input will no longer be part of the tasks, whereas digitally adjusting and processing certain information will.

People

This refers to all employees within an organisation. Without manpower, there is no productivity and an organisation is unable to function. This component also pertains to all skills, competencies, knowledge, and efficiency that employees bring.

Change in the Tasks component

When tasks change, it directly influences employees. Staff are used to doing what they do and will have to be motivated to carry out different tasks. Moreover, they will also have to be capable of carrying out additional or different tasks. Training and education is often required when new tasks are offered.

Change in the Structure component

A change in organisational structure usually has a restructuring of divisions and positions as its consequence. This means that employees receive different job positions with a new TAR package: tasks, authorities, and responsibilities.

Change in the Technology component

The application of new technology generally requires extensive training for employees, in order for them to be able to work with it as effectively and efficiently as possible. In addition, it may mean new employees are hired, who are already knowledgeable about and experienced with the new technology.

Technology

Technology is a broad concept. It is aimed at being able to carry out tasks better, easier, and faster within an organisation. Think, for example, of cloud services, a customer relationship management (CRM) system, and software applications. Upgraded machines and devices fall under this component as well.

Change in the People component

New technology requires flexibility of employees. Firstly, it is important for them to know how to work with the new technology. In addition to instruction and training, motivation plays an important role there. When hiring new staff with specific qualifications, too, it’s a good idea to offer technology to them that can help them carry out their work well.

Change in the Tasks component

Changes to tasks or goals, too, may lead to technological changes. For example, the customer service employee who is given the additional task of carrying out order processing would be aided by the company investing into a well-functioning CRM system.

Change in the Structure component

In case of a reorganisation, it may happen that departments merge or disappear. Nevertheless, productivity should be kept going, and the arrival of an automated technical process is a prerequisite. This way, a call centre will no longer have to be operated by employees, but may operate in part through a computer system and a selection menu.

According to Harold Leavitt, all four factors in the Leavitt’s Diamond have mutual interactions, which means they always need to be brought into accordance. Leavitt’s Diamond is an interactive approach, in which the four factors mentioned above are mutually coherent and influence one another. Leavitt emphasises that whenever a factor changes and influences the organisation, the other three factors will also change. Because of this direct effect, they will also need to be adjusted in order to be able to process the change. This means the Leavitt’s Diamond model is an integrated approach, and it is often used for managing changes within organisations. It is aimed at behaviour within organisations, the dynamics of organisational change, and the interaction of the four mutually coherent components that apply in each organisation. The Leavitt’s Diamond may be useful in case of, for example, the introduction of new systems or a change of organisational structure.

Weisbord's Six box Model

The Weisbord Six-Box Model is a framework developed by the American analyst Marvin Weisbord used to evaluate the performance of organisations. The generic framework has been developed to diagnose organisational issues that might otherwise go unnoticed by senior management. The Weisbord Six-Box Model is mostly based on techniques and assumptions in the field of organisational development and is used by a wide variety of organisations.

The Weisbord Six-Box Model simulates comprehensive performance analysis by examining six research areas in the organisational structure. Organisations are often so large and complex that managers, despite knowing that the organisation could be much more efficient, don’t know where to start in order to identify and correct problems or inefficiencies. The Weisbord Six-Box Model enables them to evaluate the organisation’s performance in a structured way by focusing on issues such as scheduling, motivation and rewards, the role of support functions, internal competition between organisational units, partnerships, hierarchies, and the delegation of authority, organisational rewards and performance evaluation. The Weisbord Six-Box Model complies with the basic system approach of organisational performance and allows managers to examine the organisation’s input and output.

Organisational diagnosis requires defining and using a pattern for understanding problems within an organisation. The diagnosis includes the gathering and analysing of data and drawing conclusions based on the findings, with the goal to implement the necessary changes to solve these problems. Making an organisational diagnosis is a group process. This means it requires a joint approach of possibly all organisational units. Individuals in the organisation have to actively and seriously participate in planning interventions and their implementation. High-impact changes such as a new course can benefit future performance and developments within the organisation. Organisations are open systems, meaning everything outside of the organisation the external environment may influence everyday activities. Organisations that work in a stable environment generally don’t have a very dynamic character, so they don’t require a lot of changes from a diagnostic perspective. Organic organisations, such as universities, are and have to be highly flexible because of the high level of dynamic interaction with their external environment.

The Marvin R. Weisbord’s Weisbord Six-Box Model uses six categories to conduct an organisational diagnosis. In order to make an organisational diagnosis, it’s essential to have some basic knowledge about what a diagnosis is exactly and why it’s necessary. According to Weisbord, identifying and solving a problem is something that should be done systematically by the same people, because more than anyone they are familiar with the situation they’re in, enabling them to find ways to improve. By its definition, a diagnosis is a way to bridge the gap between what is and what should be. An organisational diagnosis implies that data will be collected and that conclusions will need to be drawn using the findings resulting from analyses into the following six research areas:

Purposes

Organisational objectives include the missions and perspectives of an organisational vision. These goals have to be clear to all employees and they need to abide by them, even if their individual philosophies about how things should be are completely different.

Structure

The structure of an organisation is the bigger picture of power relationships and formal relationships between functional groups in an organisation. Structure should give a clear idea of the legal power, and it should also provide an accurate and fitting overview of how the goals of the organisation need to be achieved and who is responsible.

Relationships

Relationships include individuals, groups, technological and other functional sections that effectively work together.

Rewards

Reward systems include both official and unofficial rewards and have to be analysed in order to ensure sufficient (extrinsic) motivation among employees.

Leadership

Leadership refers mainly to the managers within an organisations, although non-managers can also have a leadership role within their own team. Managers need to use the human resources they have at their disposal as effectively as possible. They also use materials and other equipment from the organisation in order to try and achieve the organisation’s goals. They have to optimise collaboration between employees, in order to jointly work towards their goal or on the production of a single product. The intensive leadership style they will employ for this is aimed at tasks and relationships, managing and monitoring goals, identifying problems, and be highly adaptive to their environment, both internal and external.

Helpful mechanisms

Helpful mechanisms are methods that help employees to coordinate their activities.

The Weisbord Six-Box Model is particularly useful for relatively uncomplicated organisations, and when the consultant doesn’t have the time necessary for an extensive organisational diagnosis. Even when the customer isn’t familiar with thinking in system terms, for instance in the case of small business owners, Weisbord’s Six-Box Model is still a valuable tool to visualise their business as a systematic whole without using complex terminology.

The organisational diagnosis is particularly important for new businesses, primarily because they often don’t have a good overview of the environment they operate in and have high dynamic interaction with said environment. Market developments and prognoses are also relatively alien to them, even though they’re crucial for the company’s survival.